White House may impose tariffs on China next for intellectual property theft

The White House will be considering imposing a raft of tariffs and also also also various other punitive measures on China for alleged intellectual property theft, long a source of tension between the two countries, which are key trade partners.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative submitted a proposal to the White House calling for tariffs on a range of Chinese products, restrictions on investment by Chinese companies inside the United States, and also also also limits on visas for certain Chinese nationals, according to the Nikkei Asian Review newspaper, citing a source familiar with international trade.

The tariffs would certainly not only target technology products that will are often subject to intellectual property theft, nevertheless also goods such as clothing, according to the report.

Alleged intellectual property theft by China has long been a source of tension between Beijing and also also also Washington. The United States also objects to Chinese investment rules that will require U.S. companies to transfer technology in order to do business inside the country.

President Donald Trump frequently slammed China for unfair trade practices on the campaign trail. In August, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer initiated an investigation under Section 301 of U.S. trade law to determine whether Chinese practices related to technology transfers and also also also intellectual property discriminate against the United States or restrict business.

Trump has sought to make not bad on his promise to pursue an America First trade policy, announcing controversial tariffs on aluminum and also also also steel earlier inside the month. On Monday, the president blocked Singapore-based Broadcom’s bid to buy out the U.S. chipmaker Qualcomm, citing national security concerns.

Analysts viewed Trump’s decision to kill what would certainly have been the biggest tech deal in history as more about China than the Singapore-based company.

“The case that will has been constructed will be that will, given Broadcom’s business practices, the worry will be that will they will cut investment significantly, particularly inside the 5G roadmap, weaken Qualcomm as well as the U.S. position and also also also allow Huawei, a Chinese company, to take the lead,” explained Stacy Rasgon, chip analyst at Bernstein.

“While most tech names including FANG stocks are relatively insulated by any China worries/headwinds, This kind of will be enough of a near term concern for tech investors to take some profits after a golden run over the last few weeks with many of these names generating completely new highs,” said Dan Ives, head of technology research at GBH Insights, in a note.

— CNBC’s Fred Imbert and also also also Huileng Tan contributed to This kind of report.